From September 13, 2018 to January 6, 2019, the Maison Victor Hugo presents an exhibition an exhibition around the public image of Victor Hugo through the style of caricature. The poet’s fame and political commitment made him a favorite subject of the caricaturists of his time who often sketched him rather roughly and sometimes even ferociously. Among these renowned designers, it will be possible to find prestigious signatures such as Daumier, Doré, Cham, Gill, Lepetit, Nadar [ … ]
Halloween is here, gals and ghouls, and even though it might not be the biggest deal in France, there are still some in the country who know how to kick off the party right.
And Messy Nessy Chic, Frenchly’s favorite anti-tourist, has the scoop on where to go to find a very unusual Halloween celebration. Nessy’s motto is, “Don’t be a tourist in Paris,” and her videos capture the weird, the wild, and the mysterious lurking beneath the City of Lights. In this episode, she takes us to a screening of the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, hosted by the master of subterranean Paris known as La Cigale. “The Cicada” carved out his own amphitheater in the catacombs to screen old movies, and the creepy caverns are the perfect place for a spooky Halloween screening of this famous monster musical.
Nessy also heads to Studio Galande, which was featured in our article on what to do in Paris when it rains. For forty years this Latin Quarter cinema has done biweekly Rocky Horror showings with a full shadow cast, and the subcultural dedication rivals even that of the last few Rocky Horror theaters in New York. You won’t find it in a guidebook, but it’s not an event to be missed. Get your own tickets here, for an especially spooky — or at least sparkly — Halloween adventure.
Christine and the Queens is back with a new album and a very new look.
Just as Héloïse Letissier became Christine with her harem of Queens, so does Christine, now, become Chris.
The enigmatic French pop star known as Christine and the Queens put out a new record this year with a bold new face on it, a male alter-ego similar to that of Lady Gaga’s Jo Calderone. Chris, the album and the persona, explores the complexity of gender and the privileges it affords some above others. And how better to show this off visually than with an androgynous dance explosion to her song “Comme Si,” from Chris, on the set of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert? Though Letissier switched to English language songs after hitting major league international fame (a trend often found among contemporary French pop singers), the song has a wicked French refrain that will get stuck in your head and have you dancing for hours.
The Ukrainian capital regularly appears in French rap clips. Orelsan, Stromae, Damso … All have ventured on the banks of the Dnieper for one or more videos. Gringe has also chosen Kiev as part of the first clip of his next album.
We took advantage of the shoot to try to understand this craze.
” One more shoot! ” Exclaims a Ukrainian descending from the Marchroutka – these minibuses appeared in eastern countries at the fall of the Eastern bloc – which brings him back to Troieshchyna. In this popular and residential district of Kiev, located on the left bank of the Dnieper, the inhabitants are not surprised even more to see land cameras and technicians down the “panielki”. [ . . . ]
Winner of the European Films Awards and the Spanish Goya for his great critical and public success “Ida” (2015), Pawel Pawlikowski won the Cannes Direction Award with “Cold War”, an impossible love story during the Cold War. At the same time, he was handing Poland back to the Cannes loop with a magnificent film, something that had not happened for ages
Cold wars
After “Ida”, everyone was waiting at the turn Pawel Pawlikowski. The selection of “Cold War” in Cannes was already reassuring, and the vision of the film, expectations are filled. Musician, Wictor (Tomasz Kot) discovers a talented young singer and dancer, Zula (Joanna Kulig). They fall in love and plan to join Paris. But Zula does not follow him. They will meet again in the City of Light, live together, then meet again in Poland, in a constant back and forth conditioned by both their feelings and a political context deleterious.
Pawel Pawlikowski finds the aesthetic rigor of “Ida”. Its ascetic black and white, its square format, its millimetric framing, its lights alternately wadded and contrasted. The image, which some will call glossy paper, is eminently poetic. Coldness? It probably comes from the geopolitical context of the time. This cold war (“Cold War”) is part of the romance, as if it contaminated it.
Attraction-repulsion
Wictor is enamored of freedom, but Zula, yet inhabited by her love, is still very attached to her homeland. After having joined Wictor in Paris, she will leave and marry an Italian, to find him again, and finally make a child with a Polish political framework … His position is like the “metaphor” (notion which is the subject of a very beautiful dialogue) of Poland under Soviet influence vis-a-vis the West. An attraction-repulsion that guides his conduct, and lead them to a fatal resolution, like the contemporary Poland that pays in nationalism.
Hugely acclaimed French genre film producer Franck Ribiere (Inside, Livid, Cell 211, Malefique, Witching And Bitching, etc etc etc) steps into the director’s chair for upcoming thriller The Most Assassinated Woman In The World.
Set against the backdrop of the infamous Theatre Grand Guignol the story revolves around iconic actress Paula Maxa – the most famous of the Grand Guignol’s leading ladies and the titular Most Assassinated Woman, who was graphically slain on stage multiple times a day – played here by Anna Mouglalis [ . . . ]
